Legislative Stonewall

Just off of Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virgina, stands a memorial to Thomas J. Jackson on the Boulevard. Unlike the other memorials to Confederate officers, the equestrian statue of Jackson faces north, for those who subscribed to the project felt that Stonewall would wish to face the direction of his enemy.

A few miles to the south of this equestrian statue, there exists another Stonewall memorial today. Really, it is a memorial to the ability of legislators to stonewall and obfuscate and so do nothing.

That is, of course, the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Transportation officials say the state also faces a $3 billion shortfall over the next six years in that part of the budget used to maintain highways and bridges.

Washington Post, July 11, 2008 by Tim Craig

This year, the legislature convened for a “long” session (every other year, one session is lengthier by law than the next), beginning on January 9th. By April 23rd, when the extended session ended, lawmakers had not come to grips with transportation. Okay, I’ll repeat: lawmakers had not been able to make law to cover the transportation needs of the Commonwealth they supposedly serve.

How hard is this to comprehend, even if you’re a legislator:

The Virginia Department of Transportation has a budget of “x” dollars and unfunded requirements of “y” dollars.

What To Do?

Last year, the heads of Democrats and Republicans were attracted like mosquitoes to a bug zapper by the brilliance of…bad driver fees. Not fines, mind you. Fees. For instance, if you were charged speeding and it was a third offense, you were subject to a bad driver fee of up to an excess of $3,000! (Payable by PayPal or credit card, apparently, to sooth things with the consumer.) The monies generated from the various fees were earmarked for VDoT.

Oh, and that wasn’t all, either! The boys in the state house decided to give appointed commissions the ability to raise local transportation fees or taxes to fund regional projects. These clowns did that so that those in Northern Virginia and the Tidewater would be able to do something to ease the crushing traffic problems there. And, the real beauty of the scheme, as far as Republicans were concerned, was that they—the legislature—had fulfilled their pledge to not raise taxes. Someone, not them, would raise taxes.

Is There a Lawyer in the House?

A quick check of the Commonwealth Constitution quickly showed the legislature (charged with compliance with said instrument) that unelected bodies are not allowed to raise taxes on citizens. Oops. Who could’ve seen that coming? Couldn’t legislators have consulted a lawyer? Say, one from the Attorney General’s office? (Maybe those of us who vote should vote a lawyer or two into the legislature next time around.)

Oh, and (surprise, surprise) voters reacted with anger toward the bad-driver fees! So badly and vocally did they react that, in this year’s session , the same legislators who eagerly passed that law just as eagerly repealed it. Fingers flew in every direction, like errant missiles, searching for the Ultimate Culprit Responsible for Those Dastardly Fees.

So, laws to correct the transportation problem, passed in 2007, still stand. However, most of the funding to give life to that bailout package was no longer available.

What To Do? What To Do?

Well, no one found out what to do by the end of the session in April. So, the Governor (a known Democrat) hit upon a scheme to embarrass the Republican-controlled House (and a few in the Senate, too) by…calling a Special Session. House Republicans cried, and continue to cry, that, by calling the special session, Governor Tim Kaine, was only looking for an opportunity to accuse the Republicans with “obstructionism.”

How Deeply Must One Look?

If you have a problem that you need to resolve, and you do not resolve it, haven’t you obstructed a solution? If you have obstructed something, does that not mean you have participated in obstructionism? And, if you’ve participated in obstructionism, doesn’t that mean that you are an obstructionist?

House Republican leaders blamed Kaine for the failure to reach a compromise and said they are ready to take their case to voters. They accused Kaine of wasting everyone's time by pushing for a tax increase that he knew months ago had little chance of passing.

Question Time

  • How do Republicans think the transportation problems in Northern Virginia and Tidewater will be resolved?
  • Do Republicans think that only Northern Virginia and Tidewater have transportation problems?
  • Will fee increases for auto tags and drivers licenses meet the VDoT shortfall?
  • Aren’t fees taxes by another name?

Personal Notes

There is more than a little political theater going on here. But, the Governor has an obligation to address the valid needs of the Commonwealth, and he tried to do that. If the legislature knows where $3 billion in excess appropriated funds exist within the state budget, they have the obligation to redirect those funds to meet the state’s transportation requirements. If there is no such pile of money available, they have the obligation to fund it, as much as possible.

No, I don’t like taxes. Neither do I like driving on badly, oft-patched roadways and driving on or under bridges that may collapse at any time. If I lived in Northern Virginia or Norfolk or Virginia Beach, I’d like to have the opportunity to get to work and return home in a reasonable amount of time, instead of sitting for hours in traffic waiting to enter and exit a tunnel under the James or Elizabeth rivers.


Yeah, eliminate those taxes you can, increase those you must by as little as needed, and don’t try to con me by raising fees and saying you haven’t raised taxes.

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